A Father's Decision
by evil older sister
Summary: Another Companion to 'A Choice to the left' Light Matt/Mohinder, Matt and Mohinder get an explanation from Maury Parkman that is 20 years in the making. Rating due to swearing and slightly mature concepts, otherwise it's not even hard K


**This is another companion to 'A choice to the left', you should read that first. It might also be helpful to read 'Finding a Mother'. Also I have put in an interesting quote in here, I'm pretty certain it's an NCIS Quote, can you find it? Now onto what you are here for. Without further ado**

A Father's Decisions

After almost ten minute of uncomfortable silence Mohinder finally had enough, "Okay we came in here to talk, not sit and stare at each other, and if you two are talking telepathically then I am waiting outside." He started to rise only to sit back down to the pleading eyes and soft touch of his lover.

He watched as Matt steeled himself before the man turned to his long absent father and asked a single question "Why?"

There was no why what, no pretense that Maury didn't know exactly what his son was talking about. The older man just sighed, looking slightly defeated, "I left to protect you, as corny as that sounds. It was the only option that I saw at the time."

"Protect me, from what?"

"The other founders of the Company, after everything I saw them do and did with them I would not let them get their hands on you to study."

"Back up, how did you know they would want to study me? You couldn't possibly have known about my power. I was only thirteen when you left."

A wry chuckle escaped the lips of the older telepath, a far away looked entered his eyes "and you started reading minds at age 5. Now there a lot of things that you're going to want to kill me for, not including my vanishing act, so will you let me explain or what?"

It was only Mohinder's comforting hand on his arm that kept Matt from losing his temper, "Go on then, explain."

Maury winced at the bitterness in his son's words. "We wanted to save the world, at least that's what we all said. They knew about my powers from the start so it wasn't until later, until I was too deep in that I was able to hear their true motivations. By then it didn't matter all the horrible things we all had done, we were stuck. We started having kids, first Bob Bishop had a son; you were next. Nathan Petrelli was born when you were one and eight years after that Kaito had his first born. " A somewhat wistful smile crossed the man's face, "It drove your mother to distraction, how well I did with you; babies don't think like adults, there aren't formed thoughts but I could use what I could get to always know what you needed. I watched you grow, watched your thoughts become more solid, more complex and I knew I would do anything necessary to protect you. When you were two we caught another telepath, a boy of about 17; they said that he was dangerous, that we needed to understand what he could do. I didn't argue, I'm not proud of that; but I could hear it in their voices, one of us would have to go into that room to be studied. The things they had subjected him to were horrifying, they stripped him of the control he had fought for all his life then surrounded him with the utter dregs of society; serial killer and rapist, wife beaters and child abuser, people so sick that their thoughts left him vomiting and shaking for hours. He found a way to commit suicide within six months. After we found him Angela approached me, said that with her help you would never be marked, never be tracked, and certainly never be studied, all I would need to do was help her"

"Wait a minute," Matt interrupted, "Let me get this straight you helped Angela Petrelli rape Adam Munroe and nearly caused the release of a killer virus, and now you have the balls to say it was for me; to protect me when I was taken and held for two days that I still have no memory of. Yeah you protected real well, _dad_"

Maury winced slightly at the mention of Matt being taken but otherwise didn't react. "I have had years to come to terms with my less than noble actions, though I am still coming to terms with failing so completely. Now will you please let me finish so that you can either let me have a chance to make it to you or you can wash your hands of me entirely." Matt grumbled slightly that washing his hands of him sounded like a good idea but subsided when Mohinder mentally asked him to hear the man out, the slightly older man knew what it was like to have unresolved issues with one's father and would not wish that on his worst enemy let alone his lover. Maury stated to speak again before his son could change his mind, "I didn't realize that her assurances didn't mean a damn thing until you were six. Like I said you started reading minds at about 5, around the time you started reading period." At Matt's confused face, and the likely hood that he would interrupt again Maury plowed on, "I will get to that in a second. None of the others had ever met you, which was fairly common; we had all started to live our own lives, still involved with saving the world but I thought we were trying to keep our kids out of it. You were one of the smartest kids I had ever met; you started reading your bedtime stories to me just after your fifth birthday, about a month after that you looked up from your story book and asked me what horrifying meant. At the time I was thinking of a geneticist in India who had lost his daughter to a horrifying virus a few years before and how Victoria had been studying but after Adam wanted the sample destroyed."

"You knew about my sister?" Mohinder interrupted.

"That was your sister? You're that Mohinder Suresh, what a weird coincidence." He shook his head quickly to get back on track, "Where was I, oh yeah. It was around the time that she vanished into thin air. I had never said the words but you asked just the same and I knew, the fact that you were so young merely meant you would be incredibly powerful when you got older and learned some control. I'll admit that I was excited, I was growing apart from your mother and the thought that I might have another way to connect to you if things should go south was comforting. I never told a soul what you could do, and convinced you to keep it a secret as well; a great game I told you. Then Bob brought Jackson, his son to us, the boy was 15 and a telekinetic; this was just before you turned six, about a month I guess. We kept testing and pushing at his father's insistence, he was only a kid and only Charles and I seemed to be disturbed by the amount of drugs we were pumping into him, how we kept making him lift heavier and heavier objects." The two younger men watched in horrified fascination as Maury's eyes closed for just a moment in remembered grief, "After two months his heart just gave out, he was a healthy 16 year old when he came to us and he had a heart attack after two months, again only Charles and I were at all concerned about it. I looked into Angela's mind after Jackson died, I was lucky enough to catch her off guard; she normally started thinking in Hungarian as soon as she felt me in her mind, but she didn't know that I was getting better at being quiet, so I heard her thoughts in English. I looked deep enough to know that she had no intention of keeping her end of the deal."

"Then why didn't you come clean?" Matt burst out, Maury sighed.

"It's simple, I was scared. She always got she wanted and I was afraid if I gave her a reason to she would come after you and Maureen like she went after Adam, like she likely went after Victoria. I couldn't put either of you at risk by airing her dirty laundry. I knew that I would just need to make sure you were never discovered. I approached Charles, who had a similar problem, and offered a solution that we both decided we could stomach. I had enough control that I could order you and his daughter Simone to be normal, to ignore your power. He agreed and I 'fixed' Simone before I left New York. " He turned to his son with a sad smile, knowing this would likely be the death knell for any relationship they could have had, he looked into the past wistfully wishing he could change it, "You were sleeping when I got home, little wonder as it was around 3am, you were clutching your favorite story book; I sat down at the edge of you bed and made a horrible mistake. With Simone, since she was so young, I just had to order her to be normal, I don't even know if she would have developed a gift; she was only a toddler at the time. I knew you were gifted already so I thought I should make it more specific, I ordered you not to read, then to be normal", immediately Mohinder's eyes went three sizes larger, his intelligent mind telling him exactly what Maury's order caused. Matt was still in the dark, but not for long, "It was a week before I realized the extent of the damage I had caused; you absolutely refused to be alone in the same room with me for that week. That day I brought you home a brand new book for us to read and you opened it and asked me why the letters were moving." A horrified look spread across Matt's face as he realized what his father had caused, "I tried to undo it at every opportunity for the three day after I found out, please believe me in that at least. It turns out that your mind, even as hindered as I had made it was the strongest I have ever encountered, you decided I couldn't be trusted and so you wouldn't follow any of my orders, even the one that would fix my mistake."

Matt remained frozen for a moment before, "YOU are the reason I am dyslexic!" He closed his eyes and at light touch of Mohinder's other hand on his arm, his first hand had not left Matt's since the beginning of this hellish meeting, fell into his lovers mind for a few minutes needing the familiar thought pattern and the comfort of the man himself to pull himself back together. For his part Mohinder did nothing to block him out, mentally keeping up a mantra of 'I love you' and 'it will be alright'. After about 10 minutes Matt breathed a sigh of relief and opened his eyes. His face and voice were calm but his muscles were tense, "Well, finish your story."

Maury actually jerked in surprise, "What?"

"Your right, if I am going to hate you or forgive you for this I need to hear the whole story."

Maury tried to keep the relief that his son hadn't out and out killed him from his face, and failed completely "oh, right. We never had as close a relationship after that. Your mother never knew, by the way, what you could do. She was just as surprised as everyone else when you refused to be around me for a couple of years. When we argued and you weren't around she would point out that you probably knew that I was risking my life and didn't want be close in case I died or vanished one day. You'll remember when you were 11 you started to warm up to me again and about six months before I left we moved, very suddenly and suddenly I was only home on weekends. What you don't know, but your mother did, was that I had Charles help me fake your deaths in exchange for making the entire group forget about Simone needing to be tested, it was something I only dared do the once and Charles was too close to everyone to fake Simone's death. I was the outsider. The others had started talking about having our children tested, I personally think that it was Angela's idea, and I knew that I couldn't let you in their clutches. I visited on weekends when I dared and thought everything would work out, until I caught one of Angela Petrelli's goons following from the airport the weekend before I left. I tore his mind to pieces and found out that while they didn't know why I was coming out here Angela's people were getting suspicious of what was going on. That's when I knew I couldn't come back to you or your mom. I was selfish enough to need that one last day with you both, then… I left. I went back to the Petrelli's, Charles, Bob Bishop, Arthur Linderman, and the rest of the company complaining of being followed, I told them I had blundered into his mind, destroying any valuable information before I could read it because I panicked. I should have been insulted how easily all of my supposed friends believed that, but I was more relieved and grieving for what I had lost, and that is everything."

Matt was silent for a few moments, he seemed to cycle through angry and resigned before he heard Mohinder speaking from his memory. It had been before the two had acted on the attraction between them, when they were first beginning to get to know each other. They had started talking about their father's and Mohinder had told him about how his father had turned him away when he had offered to help with his research and about the dream he had where he found out his father had been protecting him. He had said, _as much as I don't like it I put myself in his place and asked what I would have done._ Mohinder had gotten the same answer then as he did now, the same damn thing. If Molly had been in Matt's place he would have done anything to keep her safe and happy. With that thought all the fight went out of him.

He looked at the defeated old man that he apparently once adored, "I suppose I can't blame you for trying to protect me, even if it didn't work," he was forgiving the man, but there were limits. Apparently Maury didn't even notice the slight dig as his eyes went wide, "this doesn't mean I trust you, or that I will let you near the rest of my family until I do."

Maury's head was nodding furiously even before Matt had finished speaking, "Of course, I completely understand, you'll see I won't betray your trust again."

Even Mohinder seemed a little surprised enthusiasm that Maury practically exuded after being told he was forgiven, "you also said you could teach Matt more control."

Maury chuckled heartily, "I certainly can, I imagine I having a couple of extra decades of experience could be helpful in this instance. But first, I would like to know more about you, Matty"

"Just Matt please, I haven't been called Matty in about 20 years. What do you want to know?" The question was asked cautiously

Maury deflated slightly at his son's not so subtle reminder that while he was partially forgiven he wasn't off the hook yet. He did perk up a little when heard the question, "Well, how have you been doing since New York nearly exploded?" At both of their surprised looks he chuckled again, "I do watch the new, and while I am not as high up in the information chain as I used to be I can read between the lines to get the gist of what is really going on. I have seen a great deal of powers, including the ones needed to make New York explode. Now you healed alright? I know you took four bullets to the chest." Maury actually looked concerned.

"I healed fine, I had some of the best nurses around after I left the hospital" Matt gave a warm look to Mohinder as he blushed; he and Molly had taken care of Matt. His wounds had been severe enough that he couldn't travel back to California and his wife wasn't inclined to travel all the way to New York to take care of him. She told him so days before the press conference that had named him a hero. She changed her tune after the press conference, but by then the damage had been done; he wanted nothing more to do with the fickle woman who may or may not be carrying his child.

Maury caught the look and smirked teasingly at the two of them. "I would ask about a partner, but you seem to have answered that already," his smirk widened into a genuine smile when they both blushed, "So do I get grandkids from either of you?"

Mohinder and Matt exchanged looks, Mohinder was careful not to project like he usually would and even more careful to think in Tamil; he had no idea if Maury was listening in. Luckily while they had only known each other for a couple of months they could read each other well. After silently conversing for a moment they both nodded, they would expend this little bit of trust. Matt cleared his throat, "we've adopted a little girl named Molly whose parents were killed by Sylar. My ex-wife may or may not be having my child in about a month and a half; we should be getting the results of the blood test soon. "

"An ex-wife huh, is she bitter?"

Matt blinked at the oddness of the question, "I would have to say so. Considering some of the things she thought when I went to get the divorce."

"That's alright, son, every man needs at least one bitter ex-wife. It's a learning experience." Maury laughed, then turned to Mohinder, "So how about you, any little ones? Or bitter exes"

"What? I'm not…"

"If your serious enough to be raising a little girl with my son, and I can keep from screwing up to badly then any of your kids would be calling me grandpa eventually anyway. So do you?"

"I do have another little girl; her mother insisted that she gained custody and that I don't contact either of them. She will be 9 this coming August." Now it was Matt's turn to comfort Mohinder, knowing that the man bought a gift every year that he couldn't send, due to certain threats made by the woman's family.

Maury winced in sympathy, "A bad break-up?"

"You could say that. She found out I was more inclined toward men than women around the same time I did, it was only my family's reputation and her concern about her own family's reputation that kept it swept under the rug, technically I am still married in India. She enjoys the freedom of being a married woman without the responsibilities that come with it and I am about as much of a laughing stock in social circles as my father was in academic ones."

"Ouch, and there is no way to see her?"

"Homosexuality is still illegal in India, if I show my face within the same town that they are in without a long list of documented reasons, I will end up being lynched."

Maury looked a little shell shocked, "I, uh, am sorry for bringing up what must be painful memories."

"It's fine, let's move to another topic though."

Matt cleared his throat awkwardly, "I have a question, did you find someone else, after…?" he let the sentence hang knowing his father would get the rest of the message. It was something he had always wondered about, whether he had brothers or sisters out there.

"No, I just couldn't. There was no one after your mother that ever interested me, even after I heard about her death. I'm sorry you never got the siblings I promised you when you were young." Now it was Maury's turn to clear his throat, but it was to clear the tears that had gathered there, "Now what have you been doing, especially after you recovered from your wounds and acquired a bitter ex?"

"I was brought into the FBI as an agent as part of a country wide initiative to stop something like Linderman from ever happening again." He said with a smile, "At least that is what they told me when I was recruited, what I really do is I'm part of a team that deals with the stranger cases within our district. Usually those cases involve someone with special powers."

"And the people you work with, they know about you?"

"My immediate teammates do, the higher ups do not. It's actually classified at the highest level, I still not certain how Nathan Petrelli managed to get that done, since he is a recently elected congressman."

"My best guess is the Petrelli name and money." Maury snorted.

"Probably, so what have you been doing since you left us?"

"I've mostly been working for the company, doing more things that I'm not proud of. I went into semi retirement about two years ago; I was just being a security guard for Adam when you all came to get him out."

The three continued to talk into the night and into the next morning, going far to heal some of the old hurts in Matt. Over the next few months he and Maury made leaps and bounds toward a real trust between them, as well as curing Matt of the dyslexia that has plagued most of his life. Matt did eventually let Maury meet Molly, after he and Mohinder became sure that he wouldn't try anything on behalf of the Company; so basically after Maury went into full retirement. Molly adored her grandfather, who in turn was quickly wrapped around the little girl's finger. Janice did contact Matt saying that the baby wasn't his and quickly severed all communication between them; shortly after that all four of them were sent a very special wedding invitation from a certain Soul Seer and a certain former killer.

**Hey all, finally done with this one, I would like to point out that I have no actual knowledge about customs in India, so except for the fact that I am reasonably I am wrong about just about everything in that regard, so remember I made most of this up. I have never seen a fic where Mohinder has children too, and decided I want one. Don't worry you'll see more of his child. It seems like every time I write another story for this 'verse I think of three more. I now have a list of fics to be written, and a list of ages for the character involved to keep them all straight. **


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